Restless nights torment Palestinian families in Canberra who are anxious for news from their loved ones in Gaza, an enclave which continues to be bombarded by Israeli airstrikes.
Families said the lack of basic resources in Gaza had made it difficult for relatives to contact them, with some only switching on their phones once every three days to conserve battery and others whom they haven't heard from in a week.
Samah IA, who did not want to disclose her surname, last heard from her aunty in southern Gaza on November 2.
"We are constantly living in that stress and anxiety about what might have happened to them, and that's the case with all of my relatives there," she said.
"It's not a luxury of talking to them every day. It's like either a very quick call, or sometimes just a text message to say, 'Yes, we are alive'."
Her aunt's family has been housing about 50 people, including children, who have been seeking refuge after losing their own homes to bombing.
"They don't have electricity to watch TV and listen to the radio so they aren't aware of what's going on ... they hear the noise all the time and are not sure where the bomb is going," she said.
With no access to clean water, Samah's relatives have been bathing in the sea and drinking filtered seawater. She was told they didn't eat regularly and rarely used the toilet to save water.
She said sending them money was useless as they had nowhere to buy food because local bakeries were destroyed from the bombing.
In her last message, more than a week ago, Samah's aunt told her she was fine and asked God to bless her.
Since then, Samah has tried to call her but did not hear back. Her subsequent messages read: "My dear beloved aunt, reassure me about you. My heart is very worried about you. We want to check on you as soon as you can send me a message. Is your situation very difficult? Please, tell me. I want to help you, but I don't know how."
The young mum was extremely concerned about women on their period and the spread of disease due to sewage problems and no clean water.
Her uncle told her it might be safer for him and his children to seek refuge in a hospital, but she was crushed when he said the hospitals were "overflowing".
"It's [conditions] that's not even [acceptable for] animals to live in," Samah said.
Another Palestinian Canberran said he was not sleeping at all.
Khaleel E, who did not want to disclose his surname, had about 30 family members in Gaza aged five to 70. He said communication was on and off and he only heard from them once every few days.
"It's not about the weather or, 'How are your kids'?'. It's just, 'Are you still alive'?" he said.
His cousins in Gaza were on Facebook either posting about people who had died or how to protect oneself from an airstrike.
"That's not normal, that's what they send, basically how to survive," Khaleel said.
He said was trying to be "sane" for the sake of his children, who had seen him glued to his phone screen for the last few weeks. He said he was not doing well at his job and had immersed himself in work to stay away from the news.
"I can't talk to my kids. I can't tell them what's happening, I can't explain it," he said as his voice shook.
He took a deep breath and said: "I just want to understand, why the brutality? Why the world is watching and nobody is doing anything?"
Another Canberran who did not want to be named said about 20 of his family members were staying in a house together, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
His cousin said he expected to "die any minute" in his most recent message on November 7.
The man said his family members didn't have enough food left and were waiting in lines for six to eight hours each day to collect one gallon (3.8L) of water.
Likening it to a waking nightmare, he said he would try to contact his relatives every day to see if they had lived through each night of bombing.
"I don't know how many more houses need to get destroyed, how many more people need to get bombed out of existence for people to realise this isn't the way to solve the problem," he said.
"There's nowhere to go. They can't get out."
The Israeli government began its war against Hamas a more than a month ago when the latter's attack on October 7 killed 1400 Israelis and took 240 civilians hostage.
As a result of Israeli retaliation, about 10,000 Palestinians, including more than 4000 children, have been killed in the last month, the General Delegation of Palestine in Canberra said.
A series of pro-Palestine rallies have been organised in the capital on Saturday and Monday. On November 13, buses of protesters from Sydney and Melbourne are planning to rally before Parliament House to demand a ceasefire.
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